The death toll from Monday’s powerful earthquakes exceeds 11,200 on Wednesday, of which 8,574 were produced in Turkey and 2,662 in Syria. In the two countries hit by the disaster, there are also almost 55,000 injured, many with fractures and serious cuts.
“Here in Kahramanmaras, at the epicenter of the earthquake that hit ten provinces, I can say that for now there are 8,574 dead and 49,133 wounded”declared the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to the press during a visit to that city.
amid rising criticism of the Government for the absence of aid in some affected areas Due to the disaster, Erdogan traveled to Kahramanmaras and will also visit the province of Hatay, one of the hardest hit.
“I believe that my citizens, who have always been patient, will continue to be so, under the coordination of AFAD (the Turkish emergency agency) the state is here,” declared Erdogan, who faces decisive elections in May that will assess his 20 years in power.
“The first day there were some problems, but the second and today things are under control. We will start removing the rubble and our goal is to rebuild the houses of Kahramanmaras and the other affected cities within a year”promised the president, who also announced financial aid for the victims.
Despite the fact that some 60,000 members of rescue teams are deployed in Turkey in the hardest-hit area, the devastation is so great and the area so wide that there are still places where no help has reached.
Many citizens describe a dramatic situation in the middle of winter due to the lack of basic services and goodswith the interruption of water, electricity and heating supplies, the scarcity of fuel and difficulties in obtaining medicines.
“What has happened to the taxes we pay? Where is the Red Crescent? We have not received anything. We are doing our needs among swollen bodies. They have given us a tent where three families live, but we are afraid that the children will freeze,” a surviving woman from Kahramanmaras told Halk TV.
Yilmaz Kurt, a specialist emergency doctor who traveled to Maras with his car loaded with first aid material, told EFE by telephone that “gasoline and diesel for cars and vehicles top the list of needs.”
“No gas station has fuel in the region. Many vehicles stopped on the highway as their tanks ran out. Work machines can’t work when they run out of gasoline either,” he said.
Rescuers continue to free people alive after spending more than 50 hours under the rubblebut the tasks are increasingly desperate in the midst of freezing temperatures and aftershocks that complicate the work.
In Syria, the death toll from the earthquakes so far stands at 2,662 and the number of injured at 4,985.while hundreds of people remain trapped in the rubble more than 50 hours after the initial quake.
The areas of the northwestern provinces of Idlib and Aleppoin the hands of the opposition and bordering Turkey, concentrate the largest number of victims in a country already punished by twelve years of conflict.